NORWEGIAN GAMES INDUSTRY

1992 – 2012

2O YEARS OF CREATIVE MADNESS

1
 THANKS FOR INFO!

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

 MY BACKGROUND
• Games journalist 1993 – 2003 (VG, Faro, Dagsavisen,
AP, Nintendo
MEGAPOP mag,OVERVIEW
- COMPANY PC mag, Playstation mag etc. )

• Free Record Shop Executive buyer 1994 – 1998

• 2k+ Founder 1998 – 2000, Spaceworld 2000

• Funcom Product Director ‘01 – ‘09, Producer ‘09 – ‘11

• Artplant Producer 2011 – 2012

• Megapop Founder 2012

• Spillprodusentforeningen, Nordic Game etc. etc.

 1992 – THE YEAR OF FOUNDATIONS

• It all started
MEGAPOP with
- COMPANY demo scene around
OVERVIEW Amiga 500

• A few hundred Norwegian boys was behind scene, a

group of 15 – 20 year old boys got really good at it.

• It wasnt the idea you had, but how good you could
code directly on the metal

• No engines, no tools

• Some games were in development, Olav Mørkrid made

a car racing game in 1992 (not confirmed release), while
Gaute was working on other stuff.
 1993 – THE FOUNDING OF FUNCOM
• In 1993 Funcom was founded by Erik Gløersen, Ian
MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW
Neil, Andre Backen, Olav Mørkrid and Gaute Godager

• No one had any money, but Andre Backen used his

military «dimmepenger» they hired a place in
Munkedamsveien in Oslo, but could not afford to pay
anyone, or even buy proper equipment

• Market was very different then, a golden age for

publishers, who could throw money after 3-4 projects
and only 1 had to succeed

• The Long journey of raising cash and projects started

 1993 – THE FUNDING OF FUNCOM
• Funcom used their demos and examples from other
MEGAPOP
titles to-sway
COMPANY OVERVIEWto come to Norway. And some
publishers
did, like Namco.

• Pretended to have a company with actual workers

when publishers visited. Was just sitting around in a
mock shell in a mock company with mock equipment.
Family and friends from demo scene.

• Landed the deal for their very first game, A Daze before
Christmas. Payment for the development was set to
50.000 USD, a ridicoulous sum even then.

• The money was spent to buy equipment and start

 1994 – THE FUNCOM MADNESS

• When all the money was spent, was forced to sell in a

second game to get money to pay development of first!
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• Quickly escalated, as there was never enough money,
and the company scaled incredibly fast. 100 employees
already in 1994 / 1995. Boys 16 – 20 years old.

• Mostly from the demo scene, notaries like Ragnar

Tørnquist, Jack Wulff, Joachim Barrum, Mikael Noguchi
and Henning Rokling came onboard during 94 and 95.

•Project after project was sold in to publishers, advances

paid out. Advances which went to completing other
work for hire projects.
 A WORK FOR HIRE GAME FACTORY

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• But it was not THEIR

games
 1996 – STRIFE AND TURMOIL
• The boyish vibe vained,
MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW
and the promised Ferraris
never materalized.Money was sparse, so was payments.
The mad dash to deliver projects took its toll.

• An internal rebellion started to form, coming from

two sides at once.

• After much scheming, backstabbing, disputed code

thefts, hacks and even a court settlement two new
companies was formed; Dimaga and Innerloop.

• Gaute had to travel around Europe and give money

back to publisher (infogrames etc.) for projects which
would not release
 1997 – THE NEW FUNCOM WAS BORN
• According to Gaute Funcom was ‘this close’ from
MEGAPOP - COMPANY
collapsing. He saidOVERVIEW
he had to fight nail and tooth to stop
everyone from leaving.

• What kept people was that management now

promised Funcom would change direction and make
own games.

• A nasty financial manouver ousted biggest owner down

to nothing. Jebsen came onboard, still there today.

• Ragnar had proven his worth on Casper, and was set to

lead a new project called The Longest Journey. The first
true Funcom indie game. Elsewhere an online research
 1997 – DIMAGA, MIMAGA
• Jack, Chester, Joachim, Mikael and others formed a
MEGAPOP - COMPANY
new company OVERVIEW
called Dimaga.

• Full of youthfull optimism and self esteem (was certain

Funcom would collapse as all the best people had left)

• Set out to make make a 2D fighter game, which at the

time had peaked as games like Tekken and 3D games
flooded the market.

• Lasted for about a year until funding dried up

• Back to Funcom was not an option (I guess), the guys at

Innerloop had been more successful at raising money!
 1997 – INNERLOOP

• Henning Rokling formed

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW
Innerloop with a group of
Funcom people.

• Initial funding for some months provided by Crystal

Dynamics (BMG), who was lurking to start something.
Sam later founded Rockstar, perhaps this could have
been Rockstart True North :D

• When that crashed, Henning sold all equipment to fund

a US courting trip. Eidos came in as owners and
investors, invested in the range of 5 million.

• Had developed a unique landscape engine, got many

pages in Edge. Perfect for flight sims it turned out
 1997 – INNERLOOP

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 1998 – INNERLOOP

•MEGAPOP
Dimaga- COMPANY
merged OVERVIEW
into company. With Eidos decided to
make Joint Strike Fighter, an amazing looking fighter
game where you could try the upcoming Fighter jets.

• Launched as a decent success, a few hundred thousand

copies shifted. Moved on to Sega Extreme Sports, and
later Project IGI 1 and 2

• Was eventually purchased by Vision Park for around

100 million NOK. A successful exit!

• Team made Månetoppen for Vision Park, and Jack,

Joachim, Mikael and Chester had fun with it. The seed
for Artplant was born!
 1998 – INNERLOOP

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 ‘94 ONWARDS– A HUGE DISTRIBUTION SCENE

• All retail
MEGAPOP chains OVERVIEW
- COMPANY suddenly sold games

• Dedicated stores serving collectors – Akers Mic,

Eugene, Spiderman

• Local distributors flourished, ‘hundreds‘ worked with

games distribution - IQ Media, Vision Park, BJ
Electronics, Nordic Softsales, Jack of All Games

• Only later came the companies with own set – EA came

first through Aksel Heirung

• Everyone imported, strife and struggle

 1998 – CAPRINO GAMES, IN GAMES
• Remo Caprino licenses out the Flåklypa license to IN
MEGAPOP
games in- COMPANY
Drammen,OVERVIEW
the year is about 98 or so.

• IN games go bankrupt. Caprino resume control,

«inherit» employees, including Voja, Stine and Tinka.

• Mario Caprino is set as lead programmer, a clear

demand from the Caprino foundation to secure the
heritage.

• Investes heavily into motion capture and production,

raises in the area of 20 million NOK. The race is on to
launch Pinchcliffe Grand Prix.
 1998 – CAPRINO GAMES, IN GAMES

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 1999 – THE LONGEST JOURNEY
• Started development in 1996, as a direct result of the
MEGAPOP - COMPANY
Innerloop OVERVIEW
/ Dimaga rebel. Funcom’s first proper self
developed indie title.

• Concept created by Ragnar Tørnquist, Jarl Scherverud

and Didrik Tollefsen (but also Gaute and Tommy Strand)

• Coming at the tail end of the point and click era.

• Resonated incredibly well with a lot of players «The

best adventure game ever made»

• Went on to sell 500.000+ copies, being released in a

range of languages (9).
 THE LONGEST JOURNEY

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•
 1999 – THE LONGEST JOURNEY

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

 2000 – PLANETARION / FIFTH SEASON
• The first ever launched Norwegian online game
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• Browser based MMO made by Fifth Season

• Players control a planet, with the ability to mine its

asteroids for resources, and construct a fleet of
spaceships to attack other player's planets.

• Quickly gained a big following, free, ad revenues

• Dotcom crash, turned to paid, sharp decline

• Went on to sell the game in 2003, through a number of

owners, now owned by Jagex.
 2000 – PLANETARION / FIFTH SEASON

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 2000 – LAUNCHING FLÅKLYPA
• After much turmoil Flåklypa launches in 2000
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• Solid! VG, the first review of game give a 6/6 score

• Like the movie, the game becomes a phenomena

• All retail stores, even gasoline stations, plastered with

POS material and shock sellers.

• Sold an amazing 350.000 copies in Norway for 399 /

499 retail price (50 – 65 USD). 30.000 in Denmark

• To date, an perhaps likely, the best selling local

Norwegian game of all time.
 1999 - CASUAL, MOBILE, DINOLIFE, TV

• Through
MEGAPOP the 90’sOVERVIEW
- COMPANY many other types of games and game
companies emerged

• Funcom made a casual portal with 500.000 users

(Backgammon etc. )…and a mobile game dating studio.

• Morten Larssen made Dinolife, a childrens game portal

• Josefine games had their hayday, and games came out

in localized form (Championship Manager Norge)

• TV games came along (including a gambling one owned

by Spetalen)…late night Kebab and mindless gambling
 2000 – ANARCHY ONLINE
• Anarchy Online was in full swing, but missed launch
MEGAPOP - COMPANY
date after launch OVERVIEW
date.

• Horrible technology, processes, tools and very difficult

challenges made it into a nightmare to develop. And a
dream.

• First made as client game, then ported to server

• At first big internal resistance to doing online games,

but Meridian 59, UO and EQ changed people

• Funding was drying up, and the dotcom bubble bursted

 2001 – ARTPLANT

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• In 2001 Jack, Joachim, Chester, Mikael and others
formed Artplant.

• Continued the good relationship with Vision Park, and

instantly got assignments for work for hire childrens
games.

• In addition made art for a long list of other games.

• A long list of great childrens games came out!

 2001 – ARTPLANT

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 2001 – ANARCHY ONLINE LAUNCHES

• 27th of- COMPANY

MEGAPOP June 2001 Anarchy
OVERVIEW Online opens its gates

• Worst MMO launch in history, people still remember it

• Funding dried up, people worked day and night

prepping for what everyone know would be rocky

• ‘Nothing’ worked

• Gigantic, 160.000 items

 AO

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 2001 – ANARCHY ONLINE LAUNCHES

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

• But people also loved Anarchy, and as the game
changed away from its planned 4 year lifespan a great
product was taking shape.

• But people had been scarred!

• Very hard to turn this ship around, massive layoffs in

Funcom, new investor squeeze. And then Trond Arne Aas
came in during 2003
 2001 – ANARCHY ONLINE LAUNCHES

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

 2001 – RAZORWAX / DARK FALL

• Founded
MEGAPOP in 2001OVERVIEW
- COMPANY to create the fantasy MMO Darkfall

• Shortly after foundation moved to Greece (2003) to

finish development, and merged into Aventurine.

• Henning Ludvigsen, Claus Grovdal, Ricki Sickenger,

Kjetil Helland, Erik Johansen

• Game eventually launched..

in 2009!

• Natascha and Henning

came back (Rock Pocket)
 2003 – ANARCHY ONLINE SHADOWLANDS

• The big- COMPANY

MEGAPOP OVERVIEW
redemption play,
even sides called redeemed.
Coming back from the «worst launch in history»

• One day we simply said «we will stop making excuses

now, we are awesome at what we do, and god damn do
we break our backs to create good content. This is our
future mindset. Go»

• Per usual Funcom routine, game was not ready on

launch date. We held back areas on purpose as «bugs»,
simply because it was not done.

• Still, a monumental masterpiece.

 GET YOUR OWN APARTMENT PRE-ORDER

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 ARTPLANT EVOLVES

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• After several horse games, the seed was planted to
raise money, and do something on their own

• Industrial investor came in with 15 million NOK,

company started developing Riding Club, an online horse
racing game.

• Set foundation for later online success, more on that

later!
 ARTPLANT EVOLVES

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

 2004 – FUNCOM GOES FREE 2 PLAY

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

• On the brink of bankruptcy, again, Funcom after much
internal debate pioneers the Free 2 Play model

• Game instantly rejuvenates with tacky «play me»

blonde on blonde banners

• 500.000 players enter, ‘most clicked banner’ on

Gamespot that year. Anarchy Online pushes towards 40
million USD revenues…and has a dedicated community

•All these things are standards today, but the debate inside Funcom
lasted over a year before we went free. I mean, FREE! That’s insane.
Thankfully Ole Schreiner pushed and pushed.
WE KNEW
FUNCOM
WE COULD
AS INNOVATOR
CREATE AND
GREAT
PIONEER
COMPANIES

CREATED THE WORLDS FIRST 3D PIONEERED DIGITAL

SCIENCE FICTION MMO DOWNLOADS AND FREE TRIALS

FIRST TO LAUNCH A GAME FIRST TO USE THE FREE 2 PLAY

PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL MODEL IN WESTERN WORLD

INTRODUCED INSTANCING, MASS

FIRST TO IMPLEMENT LIVE IN-
PVP AND MANY MORE MMO
GAME ADVERTISEMENT,
TECHNOLOGIES AND GAMEPLAY

PIONEERED VIRTUAL ITEM FIRST TO IMPLEMENT A VIRTUAL

PREORDERS, WITH IT WE HAD A RADIO, AS WELL AS HOLDING AN
#1 HIT ON ALL GLOBAL HITLISTS ‘IN-GAME’ CONCERT

ALL THESE THINGS ARE STANDARDS IN TODAYS INDUSTRY, BUT

ONCE THEY WERE HOTLY DEBATED IDEAS INSIDE
FUNCOM….MAKING A GAME FREE….I MEAN, COME ON!
 LOOK, IT’S AN ALIEN MOTHERSHIP

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 2005 – MANAGER LEAGUE

• In 2005
MEGAPOP Fifth Season
- COMPANY launched
OVERVIEW their second game;
Manager League. An online football manager game.

• Unsung heroes: to date one of the most successful

Norwegian games ever launched.

• More than 1 million players, still an active community!

• Made foundation for company to later launch AD2460

• Per is still amazed that the Norwegian press don’t want

to cover their decade anniversary!
 2005 – MANAGER LEAGUE

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

 2005 – FUNCOM GOES PUBLIC

• 2005 is- COMPANY

MEGAPOP a BIG year for Funcom
OVERVIEW

• After two years of work, goes public on the Oslo Stock

Exchange, first online company in Europe to do so

• Raises around 50 million dollars in the process, like CEO

Trond Arne Aas said «because we can»

• For better or worse, changes company completely

• Ample cash to develop Age of Conan, who gets pushed

back from it’s early 2006 release (of which there was
preorder boxes out in retail!)
 2006 – DREAMFALL THE LONGEST JOURNEY
• The sequel to TLJ was a whole new experience for
MEGAPOP
console- and
COMPANY OVERVIEW
PC. Still tackling deep issues, and FAITH.

• Ragnar Tørnquist once again took the helm

• Massive tech and development issues

• 3D, sassy, cool, unique, a game people divided over.

40% review score, or 100%. That kind of game!

• 500.000 + copies sold, we fought

hard for every single one

• Tail end of Xbox

 VIDEOTIME

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 (2002) 2006 – RAVN STUDIOS

• Founded
MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW
in 2002 by Stine Wærn and Tinka Town

• Early days worked with NRK, and on getting state

funding, and a proper studio up

• Started in proper in 2006 with super experienced

coders and team (Are, Morten Brenna)

• Launched first game

Snakeball, in 2007.
 RAVN

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Utgivelser

NDS/3DS, (2012)
T V/DVD (2004) iOS, Android
(2013)
PS3, (2007)
iOS, Android (2012)

NDS, (2011)
Android/WinRT
NDS, (2010)
PC, (2008)

NDS, (2010)

iOS, Android (2013)

iOS, (2011)

NDS, (2011)
 (2002) 2006 – RAVN STUDIOS

• These girls
MEGAPOP haveOVERVIEW
- COMPANY balls bigger than you do

• Focus on local children titles and IP is not just risky, but

also noteworthy

• True cornerstones in todays Norwegian games industry.

Without them, perhaps no NFI support system!

• Also a really experienced team of coders from Funcom

and abroad (Bullfrog, Team 17)
 (2002) 2006 – RAVN STUDIOS

• These girls
MEGAPOP - COMPANY
haveOVERVIEW
balls bigger than you do! Whatever sex
you have!

• Focus on local children titles and IP is not just risky, but

also noteworthy

• True cornerstones in todays Norwegian games industry.

Without them, perhaps no NFI support system!
 2007 – HYPE FOR CONAN IS BUILDING

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 Age of Conan

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

 2007 – PLAYFISH
• Co-founded by Kim Daniel Arthur, focus on social
MEGAPOP
gaming. -Came
COMPANY OVERVIEW
from Glu mobile development (IPO NY)

• «Selling air» (virtual items) was not an easy concept to

understand for the norwegian press :

• «Nerd blir søkkrik på ting som ikke finnes -

DN.no»

• Very efficient at both business and product, quickly

rose to a #2 position on Facebook behind Zynga

• Successful exit to Electronic Arts at $380 million

after 2 years of operation.
 2009 – PLAYFISH TROMSØ

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• Tromsø office made six games, reaching more than 81
million players!

• 21 employees , but quite fast ‘game over’ after EA

came onboard (2012). Still, now there are 11 gaming
studios in Tromsø!

•Bowling Buddies, Crazy planets, Quiztastic, Hotel

City, Poker rivals, Secret island (in closed beta
when office was shut down)
 PLAYFISH TROMSØ

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

 2008 – ROCK POCKET ENTERS THE SCENE

• Founded
MEGAPOP - COMPANY
by IvanOVERVIEW
Moe in 2008

• The coming of iphone and app store was the reason

Ivan needed

• Got experienced people to join - Henning came over

from Greece had a background from the Amiga demo
scene.

• Instant success; «The package» App of the Week

• Now one of the premier studios!

 2008 – ROCK POCKET

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 2008 – TURBO TAPE GAMES
• Founded by Frederik Breien and Jan Haugland,
kickstarted
MEGAPOP the Bergen
- COMPANY gaming scene
OVERVIEW

• Frederik had long been involved with games, was a

coding teacher at NITH

• Started by doing science / museum work for hire

projects (Slukhalsen, Inbetween, The Wonder Raft, TV2
news : pirate hunt, Virtual Fedje, Pelle the Paintbrush)

• Launched their first indie game in 2011 «Velocipede»

• In 2012 their first flagship came out «Naval War». The

first, and only (?) Norwegian #1 game on Steam
 2008 – TURBO TAPE GAMES

MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW

 2008 – CONAN LAUNCHES

•MEGAPOP
Bam! To big fanfare and
- COMPANY OVERVIEW
insane anticipation Age of
Conan launches. Valuation of Funcom is unheard of.

• Sets a dent in the internet, top 10 global, shut out from

Germany.

• Becomes #3 best selling global PC game of year, #1 on

every single chart on the planet simultaenously

• Generates 1 billion NOK in revenue for Funcom and

partners

• A porn tribute movie is made! Age of Bonan!

 2008 – CONAN LAUNCHES

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 2008 – CONAN LAUNCHES

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• End game mechanics are not done, and game dries up
on content too fast. Players are enraged

• The launch was rock solid in terms of server tech, but

massive inflow of customers meant huge investments
were made. Hundreds of people worked on the game.

• And then came the subcription point.

• Did not become the diamond mine everyone had

better on, but a solid silver mine ;)
 2009 – SNOWCASTLE
• Founded by Bendik Stang, Erik Hoftun and Morten
MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW
Nordvold. Bendik already had a long story with games,
including the Book of Games concept.

• Started by doing work for hire casual games (TV2)

• Launched their first product in ‘10/ ‘11 «Hogworld», an

innovative and well made interactive storybook.
 2009 – SNOWCASTLE

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 2011 – BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ONLINE

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 OTHER MEDIA
• In particular Funcom and Turbotape has explored using
MEGAPOP - COMPANY OVERVIEW
famous bands and tie-ins to games

• Funcom released 6 CDs, two books, and cooperation

with bands like Turbonegro, Magnet, Ministry of Sound
and even free internet bands.

• The size and scope of the projects meant it was

possible to explore more; like dolls, comic books and
merchandise.
 OTHER MEDIA

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